Unsuck DC Metro: Hot Cars: 'Worse than Ever'

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Hot Cars: 'Worse than Ever'

Via @warriorwriter

Last year, Metro rolled out the B.S. "Operation Cool Breeze" story about their response to the hot car "phenomenon."

This year, the initiative lacked a dumb title, but promised pretty much the same.

According to this WTOP report, Metro says "forty percent of condensers and evaporators on the 1000 series cars have been replaced, and 78 percent of condensers and evaporators on the 5000 series have been replaced."

Additionally, in April, the Washington Examiner reported Metro as saying they plan "to start work on the BREDA 2000 and 3000 series cars next week. It is nearly two-thirds of the way through a separate seasonal tune-up of all the cars, as well."

One li'l Stessel over at Metro, Cathy Asato, told the Examiner the following:

Last year, we saw a 23 percent reduction in HVAC issues across our fleet, but we are not resting on that success.

Sounds good right?

Not so fast.

"It's worse than it ever has been," said a Metro source with deep, specific knowledge of the hot car problem.

The source went on to say that while the engineering notion behind the fixes looked good on paper, "It's making things worse. We tell them, and they keep on doing it. It doesn't make any sense."

Of course, the word from the Metro Ministry of Truth is that there's really not much of a hot car problem at all. Dan Stessel told WTOP the number of hot cars numbers in the "low, single- digit percentage."

Most riders would probably scoff at that account. The hot car tracking site, FixWMATA.com had the number hovering well above 30 percent before the heat waves.

Metro likes to fly the excuse that when it gets to a certain temperature, the AC just can't keep up.

That's just not true. Yesterday, one of the hottest days of the year, the car I was in was cool and comfortable, even at the outdoor stations, and even with a crush load. The ACs can work in even the harshest conditions.

"The ACs should work better," said another inside source. "Something is not getting translated from engineering to the mechanics or the other way around. They're spending a lot of money and hours, but the fixes are just not working or someone is doing them wrong."

Other items:
Excellent op/ed from the Examiner
Ouch! (Examiner)
Metro's talent search angers local musicians (DCist)

Comments (41)

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+2 Vote up Vote down

@FixWMATA · 662 weeks ago

I just checked... my website's still up. Was it down for you earlier?

5 replies · active 661 weeks ago

+5 Vote up Vote down

unsuckdcmetro 92p · 662 weeks ago

It was. Took out the defunct.

+1 Vote up Vote down

@FixWMATA · 662 weeks ago

Thanks.

+10 Vote up Vote down

Bro Steve · 662 weeks ago

You two should be bros

+6 Vote up Vote down

UnSuck Fan · 662 weeks ago

Its’ what happens when to (extra)“ordinary” gentlemen work together to make things better for us; two super men! ;-) Thanks guys!

0 Vote up Vote down

UnSuck Fan · 661 weeks ago

Seriously?!? I can't believe my stupid mistake! I meant two. Sheesh! :-P

+10 Vote up Vote down

Mike · 662 weeks ago

I keep riding on trains that aren't necessarily hot, but they're not cool either. It's uncomfortable, but not awful. I'm usually sweaty though by the time I reach Vienna in the afternoon. I don't really remember the last time I was on a train that was refreshingly cool.

1 reply · active 662 weeks ago

+17 Vote up Vote down

Another Anon · 662 weeks ago

Winter?

+4 Vote up Vote down

@VeggieTart · 662 weeks ago

I seem to remember reading something here a few months ago that some workers would fake results of maintenance. No doubt someone is fudging the numbers of repairing/replacing the HVAC units on the 1000 series shithole cars and 5000 series cars.

+12 Vote up Vote down

John · 662 weeks ago

So, Dr. Gridlock is doing a "hotcar" test where he rides the metro with a thermometer and tests the temperature. He says its not that bad, and that if you don't like it, get off and switch to another car.

Of course, he's doing this at 4 PM, instead of during the height of rush hour. You know, when by the time you get on and get pushed to the center of the crowded car, you realize you are in a hotcar. You know, when its hard enough to simply exit the train, let alone have enough time to get back on the train.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/patrick-b-pexton/20...

As always, please contact the ombudsman of the Washington Post.

2 replies · active 662 weeks ago

+3 Vote up Vote down

mike · 662 weeks ago

Got on a blue train last night at 1815 heading for Franc/Spring. Middle car, no A/C. Got off at Rosslyn and entered the next car it had what could only be called a fan going. Both cars scorching, both cars packed to the gills. Metro sucking worse than ever.

+6 Vote up Vote down

SammyDC · 662 weeks ago

Another thing about Dr. Gridlock's Metro tests is he only does it once (recently timing a trip to Foggy Bottom via the "New Blue" to L'Enfant). If the good Dr. G were to test Metro several times at various hours of the day, I doubt his reports would be so positive and happy.

+3 Vote up Vote down

Joe · 662 weeks ago

What happened to Fixwmata.com? Why no new updates? He still tweets.

+6 Vote up Vote down

bll · 662 weeks ago

Today my green line train- which was cold and smelled like it was full of raw onions- was offloaded at l'enfant and I definitely got into a toasty car when another green line pulled up. Not sure which is worse, a cold car that smells like onions or a hot car that smells like BO.

3 replies · active 661 weeks ago

+4 Vote up Vote down

Metro Ryder · 662 weeks ago

This keeps happening to me. I get on a cool or not quite hot car and it smells like ass. Every damn time I get off for the smell, the next car over is a hot car. Maybe it's related.

+6 Vote up Vote down

Vienna Bound · 662 weeks ago

I'd say the worse is a hot car that smells like BO, and then you exit the car to switch cars to find a cooler one, you're slapped with the fish smell.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Stan Dessel · 661 weeks ago

We've added air fresheners with the scent of "raw onion kitchen" (as a result of a station manager focus group to determine the best scent possible). This is to designed to compliment our fishy brakes smell which was added earlier this year using another focus group of the best and brightest, our escalator repair group. We hope this addition of more sensory input to your Metro experience will bring you joy.

You're welcome!

+3 Vote up Vote down

@davinpet · 662 weeks ago

Yesterday afternoon, car #6017 did not have A/C and during the last heat wave in early July, a 5000 series car didn't have A/C and it was just hot inside the car as on the platform. I've tweeted to fixwmata.com

+4 Vote up Vote down

Jason · 662 weeks ago

Yesterday I left work at 6 and then proceeded to wait on the platform at Pentagon City for 20 minutes for a Blue Line train, only to have the pleasure of getting on a hot car. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Thanks Metro! Rush double-plus-good!

+4 Vote up Vote down

fsdkljflksjd · 662 weeks ago

Metro usually sucks at most everything (except for excuse making and applying band aides anyway), why would fixing broken air conditioning units be any different? "The AC can't keep up," what a lame, idiotic excuse for utter incompetence. Last I checked there are cool train cars in much warmer locations than under the city of DC.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Hot Car · 662 weeks ago

I don't have a twitter account...can someone tweet car #6132 on the Green line both Monday and Tuesday around 5:30 PM?

+2 Vote up Vote down

Rory · 662 weeks ago

I rarely have a problem with hot cars. Maybe my line is just good. (I take yellow over bridge to L'Enfant)

4 replies · active 661 weeks ago

+2 Vote up Vote down

Metro Ryder · 662 weeks ago

Yellow is generally better.

+3 Vote up Vote down

fsdkljflksjd · 662 weeks ago

I ride the red line, I would say every third trip during the summer is uncomfortably hot, say, 88 degrees or warmer, and crowded with smelly tourists. I'm not exaggerating in any way, the tourists really do smell!

+2 Vote up Vote down

guest · 662 weeks ago

life has gotten better for me since i started taking the glenmont arm of the red line; the cars are a lot less crowded, so the warm ones don't turn into toaster ovens. :P

+1 Vote up Vote down

Anon · 661 weeks ago

Although it's off the point of the hot car issue, I agree with you completely about the tourist smell. I get on at Smithsonian in the PM rush and it can be pretty rank. I know they've been drudging the desert plains of the Mall all day; I understand and I sympathize - but that doesn't make them stink any less!

+9 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 662 weeks ago

What part of "free sauna" do you not understand?!

+10 Vote up Vote down

Stan Dessel · 662 weeks ago

Get real! Your skin has never been more clear!

You're welcome.

+21 Vote up Vote down

Erin · 662 weeks ago

"Personally, I love getting on a hot car after a long day of working my ass off," said no one ever.

+4 Vote up Vote down

UnSuck Fan · 662 weeks ago

My vote for the hot car “phenomenon” is all of the B.S. Metro is feeding us each and every day! The only other relief insight from all of the mayhem and chaos is UnSuck DC Metro and FIXWMATA. While they don’t resolve the problem, they definitely shine big spotlights on the problems.

+4 Vote up Vote down

UnSuck Fan · 662 weeks ago

I’ll step into Dan’s smelly shoes:

“There are no hot cars; it’s only global warming. We tend to be like those skeptics out there. You know, the whole “There’s no such thing as global warming. Just like there aren’t any problems with Metro!”

+3 Vote up Vote down

jimlcunningham 80p · 662 weeks ago

THERE'S SOMETHING MISSING FROM THIS CONVERSATION:

What's the relationship between the A/C controls in the cab where the driver sits and the rest of the cars. Because I'll be you a dollar that, if they're the same, and if the driver feels comfortable or chilly you can forget about her/him turning up the A/C for the rest of us.

I've ridden on Metro busses where the driver (being from some equatorial country) feels perfectly comfortable with his window open so he won't turn on the A/C in the bus.

I was once told (by an unreliable source) that the A/C for the cars is controlled in pairs - and that if the A/C isn't high enough, you have to move down the line two cars to get to the next "set". I have, on occasion, found that the front cars were warm and it gets better further back in the train.

But let me "boil it down" for you...
If the driver feels comfortable or cold (even if the controls are different and it's only the psychology of being considerate of everyone else) they're not thinking about how the passengers feel.

I bet 50% of the time, it's the driver's fault for not minding the A/C for the crowd behind them.

2 replies · active 662 weeks ago

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PeeWee · 662 weeks ago

I thought I would always get an AC car if I hopped onto the first one cause you know the driver will make sure his AC is working. Wrong--I found a first car that was a hot car. I hope the driver was suffering but then like the bus driver, he could open a window.

+3 Vote up Vote down

khroe · 662 weeks ago

There are no controls in the cab for A/C, just a circuit breaker and a vent that the operator can turn on and off that works off the front unit, there is a cab heater/defroster though.

+1 Vote up Vote down

guest · 662 weeks ago

OT: re, the transit mtg the other day:

“Many of my constituents are really disturbed,” Mikulski said, referring to the most recent mishaps. She described some of the emails coming into her office as “volcanic.”

hee hee! yes, i can imagine. :-)
http://www.gazette.net/article/20120718/NEWS/7071...

+7 Vote up Vote down

One take · 662 weeks ago

All I want to know is why some metro drivers turn on the heat in their trains after a mid-summer storm. Granted, following a fearsome summer storm, the heat and humidity can drastically plummet from 100 degrees to about 99.7; but why do you need to turn on the heat?
When this happens, I feel like a big juicy steamed pot sticker; and mind you not in a good way.
Yes sir or madam, just a big juicy steamed pot sticker riding the rails to my domicile.

+1 Vote up Vote down

JLP · 662 weeks ago

It was reported today that apparently a lot of A/Cs were out. Some guy in my car said, he was on the train for 2 hours coming and going midafternoon and regular afternoon rush there was no A/C in his car. And there really was no A/C in the car arriving at Franconia Springfield at 4:10 pm this afternoon. I was only in the car for 20 minutes and felt like I was gonna freaking die. A little bit of water helped but drinking water is banned.

If half the "customers" die on the train, I don't think Metro gives a damn except when they get hit with the lawsuits. Then we can take action.

1 reply · active 662 weeks ago

+2 Vote up Vote down

Tricky Dick · 662 weeks ago

Lawsuits don't really get Metro's attention either, we just pass those expenses onto our lazy assed, whiny, "it's too far to walk" cust.... i mean lovely riders that pay me $959 a day!!!

In all seriousness, I haven't dealt with too many hot cars this year thankfully but holy hell was McPhereson hot today.

+2 Vote up Vote down

dddddda · 662 weeks ago

Hm...I've had better luck with 1000 series cars than others w/r/t air conditioning. I assumed it was the old freon-based systems keeping them nice and cool. I have experienced the hot car "phenomenon" frequently, recently, but moreso in newer cars than the 1000's.

1 reply · active 661 weeks ago

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guest · 661 weeks ago

i got on one this morning that was FREEZING.

i loved it. :-)

0 Vote up Vote down

Metro Ryder · 661 weeks ago

I've also noticed the 1000 cars are cooler. I was so pissed when they moved them from the front of the train b/c I was used to sitting there where it was 1. cool and 2. not as crowded. Now I still get the not as crowded but the 3000 and 5000 cars are always warm or hot.